When Mice Attack!

The back of the pump housing was plastic as well, and it had been chewed through in multiple places...the dishwasher was a total loss.

The moral to the story is: rodents and pests can do costly damage even when no one is around and it looks as though everything is cleaned up. It's good to have good repellent set about when a house is going to be vacant for a while. Just the fact that rodents like to come in out of the cold, and must eat to survive, should warn us to keep repellent out to avoid this type of costly disaster.